FinTech News: March 24th, 2017

This week, lots of drama in the cryptocurrency world: Bitcoin’s community could split the currency, Ethereum continues surging, as governments debate over who regulates fintech. By the way, what is Ethereum?

The bitcoin developer community is divided over block size limits, and it’s threatening to split the currency in two. Unlike the volatility that followed Bitcoin’s ETF rejection, this debate carries fundamental implications for the cryptocurrency’s future. A permanent, definitive record of every transaction is central to Bitcoin’s value proposition, so splitting this history into two will cause uncertainty and could provide liquidity problems. Bitcoin price has hovered around $1000 all week, down from its previous highs around $1250.

Ethereum, the current leader of “altcoin” currencies, has been unavailable to investors in New York. This week, the state legislature granted Coinbase a license to provide Ethereum, and criticized the OCC’s encroachment on fintech reculation. The debate continues over who is best equipped to regulate fintech – states or the federal govermnent.

Ethereum 101: what is it, and why are people suddenly talking about it? It’s a nerdier and slightly more complicated version of Bitcoin – and some companies are getting behind it. It’s up 200% in the past month. Get the overview here.